With a menu that’s too dynamic to become dull, 89 Fish & Grill continues to be one of the
best white-tablecloth operations to open in the past couple of years.

The most significant change since the 2012 opening is the end of lunch service, presumably to
let the Downtown restaurant focus on the dinner menu.

The vegetable soup ($5 a cup as a soup of the day) has a good assortment of vegetables — several
kinds of squash, carrot, onion and tomato — in a vegetable broth that doesn’t scream “soup base.”
Fresh basil gives it a summery flavor.

The chorizo-crusted scallops ($26) are well-conceived and executed. They’re delicately cooked
and topped (rather than crusted) with a chorizo breading. A good pairing is made even better by the
mustard greens that are wilted, not overcooked, and flavored with bacon.

The other garnish — jalapeno skillet corn — was just OK; a little more jalapeno would have
helped.

One of the appetizers is a risotto made with “peas and Parmesan” ($6). The peas looked and
tasted fresh. The surrounding risotto had a laid-back flavor, without Parmesan notes.

The house bread is good and crusty, but the butter that accompanies it is seasoned.

On the dessert list, the refreshing fruit soup ($6) has a base of sweet gelatin flavored with a
welcome lime tartness. Banana slices and berries decorate the dish.

The excellent deconstructed Key lime pie ($7) is rebuilt with vanilla panna cotta making a round
base on which a clean-tasting lime custard is built. In place of a crust are thin, crisp biscuits
with almonds and orange zest that serve as tuiles.